Moonlight Cakes
by saiyuri-dahlia
Summary: Typically when Jin gets out of bed in the middle of the night, nothing good comes of it. Tonight is the exception. Jin/Touya, some Suzuki/Shishiwakamaru


Story Title: Moonlight Cakes

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuu Yuu Hakusho.

Author's Notes: This is a very old story I thought I would post in hopes of someone finding enjoyment out of it. That and there are not enough Jin/Touya stories. Utilizing the US English dub here, so with Jin and Chuu, there's going to be accents abound. I can't promise they're any good. I just went with whatever sounded particularly right.

This was posted on St. Patrick's Day but it's not in honor of the holiday. Only connection to the holiday is Jin. I thank everybody for reading.

-o-

Story Title: Moonlight Cakes

-o-

Touya rolled over in the dead of night, expecting his arm to cradle his lover's strong, warm body, only to find cool air and Jin's empty side of the futon. Prior experiences taught Touya that nothing good ever came from Jin getting out of bed before dawn.

Since their move to the human world, Jin had started sleepwalking, often wandering away from the house unaware of what he was doing or where he was. The human world news still had no explanation for the regular freak gales blowing between the hours of midnight and 5:30 a.m. Their human neighbors already suspected there was something peculiar about Jin and Touya's list of excuses was getting thin.

The ice master groggily rose and stumbled about his and Jin's pitch-dark bedroom until he found a pair of loose pants to cover over his blue boxers. Before he commenced the hunt for the wind master, Touya stood and allowed himself wake more.

Since leaving the shinobi, some of his and Jin's habits had softened. Before Touya could wake and rise at Risho's order fully aware and prepared—now he had to stop and rouse himself from sleep. He had become complacent in his new freedom, in sleeping in once in a while, in lying in bed past daybreak cuddled beside Jin and enjoying their combined warmth.

_Jin… _Touya wondered where he was and what trouble he was getting into unbeknownst to himself.

There was no telling how far or where Jin was by now. Touya counted off how many of the Dark Tournament fighters were crashing at their house at the moment. Rinku and Suzuki were here, Shishiwakamaru was in Demon World, and at this hour Chuu wouldn't be in from drinking. That didn't leave many for a search party.

'_You deal with the situation at hand'_, Touya recited some long-ago advice Gama gave him. '_No time to complain. Shinobi must be adaptable and bend to their circumstances. You'll have difficulty learning that, Touya. You're as inflexible as your element.' _

That was not as true now. Touya had learned how to adapt, how to survive in harsh situations, thanks to the shinobi sect. But life out of the shinobi way had taught him more—how to be like ice one moment and like water in the next. Touya had to learn, had to soften. After all, facing life and living with Jin with the rigidity of ice would never work. To keep up with Jin and his sense of fun, one had to flow.

The peculiar thing about Jin's new habit was that he had only started it after they had moved to the human world. Jin had never sleepwalked when they were shinobi. Touya supposed it was because they weren't free to do what they wanted in the sect, and now that they could, Jin's subconscious was making up for lost time and freedom. And the human world was quite interesting to the wind master.

But now that Touya and Jin (with plentiful visits by the other Dark Tournament fighters) had relocated to the human world, Jin's antics, awake or not, were not always safe for the eyes of humans. Though Touya had never believed adapting to the ways of the human world would be easy, Jin certainly did not make the transition stress-free for Touya or their human neighbors.

Touya stepped into the hallway and saw the kitchen light on down the hall. _Good. Someone's awake_, he thought and padded his way toward the bright kitchen.

Partially he hoped it was Jin so that he knew he wasn't in the eyes of humans but partially he hoped it wasn't. There were some things about the kitchen that Jin had yet to learn, like that the blender was not a toy and that only Touya was allowed to turn on the gas stove after Jin's previous attempts resulted in several small fires, broken knobs, and flaming dishtowels. Jin alone in the kitchen worried Touya.

So the ice master had cause for concern when he found Jin alone in the kitchen.

Or maybe not.

His eyes unaccustomed to the bright lights, Touya shaded a hand over his aching eyes and stood genuinely surprised in the kitchen's open doorway. Jin was alone in the kitchen and he was actually _cooking_, not setting off the smoke alarm, not batting flames on the stovetop, but really cooking and succeeding at it. Touya watched in amazement.

Sure, the kitchen island was a complete mess of dirty bowls, used utensils, and baking ingredients. Touya could see strawberries, blueberries, peanut butter, chocolate chips, cans of whipped cream, and bottles of different syrups clustered on the tiny tabletop, but he had no idea what Jin was trying to make. A fine coat of flour dusted over Jin's workspace and powdered the floor in spots, but aside from the mess and clutter, Jin seemed to be in control of everything.

"Jin, what are you doing?" Touya asked, wishing he could dim the lights just a bit.

The wind master jumped at Touya's voice. "Ah, sorry, Toy. Didn't mean ta wake ya yet," Jin said, keeping his voice low (low for Jin) so not to wake the rest of the house. "Wanted ta su'prise ya, but…" He let his words trail off as he refocused on mixing the contents of the large bowl in his arms.

"Trust me, Jin. I'm plenty enough surprised," Touya said, taking note of the stove and saw it was working properly, meaning that he didn't hear the gas blowing out hard and the burner wasn't aflame. "Just…what are you making?" he asked, slightly worried, as he took a seat opposite of Jin at the kitchen island.

Jin looked up from the mixing bowl, his merry face splotched in white flour and sparkles of sugar here and there, and beamed. "Though we haven't been drinkin', I thought I'd make ya moonlight cakes."

Touya blinked.

'Moonlight cakes' was something Chuu had introduced to the group, though he claimed he had been doing this all his drinking life (much to Rinku's denial), and it became a tradition of sorts among the Dark Tournament fighters. Every time they had a night of drinking, they would come home and eat pancakes. It was a lot of fun and more opportunity to sit around and talk and enjoy themselves and it was the only time Chuu ever cooked. And as far as pancakes went, Chuu could cook.

Touya raised a short pale blue brow curiously. "And you know how to make them?"

"Sure rightey, I do," Jin nodded. "Learned from the master himself an' all just fer you, I did."

Touya softly smiled as a rose of pink tinted his pale cheeks. "You did not have to do this."

"It's not a mattah a-havin' ta do anythin', love," Jin said, facing the stove, as he poured a pool of pancake batter onto a heated skillet. "I do what I do 'cause it's what I want ta do." Jin looked over his shoulder and grinned at the ice master. "You should know that about me by now, Toy."

And Touya did. He knew Jin only did what he wanted quite well. Jin was very sincere, in his words and his actions. With the wind master, there was no hidden strings, no ulterior motives to his kindness or to any of his emotions. Jin was Jin and that suited Touya just fine.

Touya broke away from his thoughts to find Jin lifting the rim of the blueberry syrup bottle to his lips. "Jin, do not drink from the bottle, please."

"Sorry, Toy," Jin said and was apologetic. "Won't do it again. Promise."

Touya covered a hand over his face and sighed. Why Jin started drinking blueberry syrup in the first place Touya would never understand, but from his first taste, he started drinking it regularly. He could down a bulk gallon in about three days and only because Touya had him eat proper meals and snacks alongside the syrup. Technically, the syrup wasn't food but Jin wasn't so far suffering any adverse effects to consuming it daily—well, maybe a tiny sugar high—but it wasn't as if anyone could really tell the difference.

Touya, still pressing his closed eyes against his palm, heard the cabinet door squeak. "The bottle goes in the pantry—" Touya looked up and stared speechless at the sight of Jin pouring the syrup into a glass, like it was orange juice or milk. "Er…that is fine."

_At least he is using a glass_, Touya sighed and tilted his head downward. …_Even if it is filled with a pancake topping._

Jin checked on the large pancake, taking sips of blueberry syrup as he flipped the light brown cake over. The pancake batter sizzled as it cooked up fluffy and golden in the skillet and filled the kitchen with the smell of warm pancakes. Not chancing it to burn, Jin checked the pancake's color on its bottom, judged it done, and flipped it onto a plate.

Jin wore a large grin as he set the plate in front of Touya. "What would'cha like?"

"Umm…" Touya glanced at his possible options and finding none he wanted with certainty. "Whatever you want."

The wind master didn't seem to mind, in fact he glowed with joy after being given the choice to dress Touya's pancake for him. Wanting to surprise him, Jin set the plate on the opposite countertop, picked up the blueberries, a can of whipped cream, and the bottle of blueberry syrup, and, using his body as a wall between them, began to create. Almost immediately, Touya questioned whether or not allowing Jin free-rein was a wise decision.

Touya heard the can of whipped cream being used and grew more concerned when Jin was not about to stop. _He is putting a mountain of whipped cream_, Touya thought, washing a hand over his face. _Why am I not surprised? Or better yet, why did I give him permission?_

With a few more swift motions and flying blueberries, Jin finished making Touya's pancake and eagerly presented it to him.

Jin's grin had little face left to overtake as he beamed and set the pancake before the ice master. "Look familiar?" Jin said, obviously proud of himself. "Did a pretty good job, if I say so meself."

Well, there wasn't a mountain of whipped cream, but there was no visible trace of a pancake in front of Touya. Jin had mixed the part of the whipped cream with the blueberry syrup at the top of the pancake and clustered the blueberries in way that suggested Jin had drawn something. It was just that…well…Touya had no idea what he was supposed to be seeing…

And Jin was readily awaiting his response.

Touya needed to say something and not just sit there with his mouth open staring in confused surprise. He laughed softly but awkwardly and smiled. "It is cute, Jin." And before he could stop himself, the ice master added, "You drew a panda."

"Panda?" Jin said quickly in a way Touya knew he had been wrong. Mystified as to how Touya couldn't see what he had made, Jin raised the plate and held up it upside-down and searched. "Made you, I did. …Thought I did."

The ice master's face grew hot with embarrassment. "Oh…uh, sure you did. I see it now." Touya did not.

Jin set the plate back down in front of Touya and frowned at it. Displeasure did not suit Jin. He rarely showed unhappiness but the ice master hated to see Jin unhappy in the off time he ever was.

Touya put on a gentle smile, took Jin's hands, and interlaced their fingers. The wind master peered up from his disappointment and met Touya's adoring gaze. "It was sweet of you and I appreciate the thought and work you did. I like my moonlight cake. Thank you."

Jin's smile returned, spreading slowly across his face, his odd but cute little fang poking out. The wind master's eyes flashed with a spark of playfulness and he swiftly leaned over the kitchen island and kissed Touya. The kiss started as a simple quick peck on the lips but as Touya leaned forward to balance the stress between them and met Jin over the middle of the island and pressed his lips to Jin's once more, their kisses grew longer and deeper and tasted of blueberry syrup.

In the tango of tongues and breath, Touya was lost in Jin. He saw only smiles and the wind master's bright, big blue eyes. He heard only laughs, light when they paused for breath and husky when their lips sealed one another's. He tasted sweetness and felt Jin's love and passion and returned his own to him in equal measure.

For once, Touya had to admit, Jin getting out of bed was a good thing, no, a _wonderful_ thing.

"What you blokes doin' up?" Chuu staggered in from his long night drinking. Touya, ever modest, parted from Jin quickly. "Is it mornin' already?"

"Only if the moon's the sun an' the sun's the moon," Jin replied and laughed.

Chuu gave a throaty chuckle and Touya gave up his seat and stood next to Jin so Chuu could sit at the kitchen island. In comparison to other times, Chuu wasn't as heavily drunk as he usual was, in fact he seemed just relaxed. If Touya had to guess, Chuu must have drank mostly human alcohol all night—being less potent, he would have needed to drink much more to get truly drunk than with demon spirits.

Chuu sniffed the air. "What smells good?" He looked down, found Jin's pancake, and dug in.

"Ah! Yer eatin' Touya!" Jin shouted and tried taking the plate away from Chuu but the drunken master fought back and picked up the plate from the island and kept eating.

"Touya?" Chuu stared down perplexed at the pancake cradled in the crook of his burly arms. "I thought it was one a' them pandy bears."

Unhappy at the reminder of his artistic failure, Jin groaned and let go of the plate and fell into a gloom. Touya wore an embarrassed smile and massaged the crestfallen wind master's shoulder comfortingly.

Still confused and hungry, Chuu waited and bounced his sight from Jin to Touya and back: "I can 'ave it, right? You blokes were 'mackin' over it anyways."

Touya waited for Jin to give in before he gave Chuu permission and Chuu returned to munching down on the 'panda' pancake. The ice master put his arm around Jin's waist and Jin matched his gesture and drew him close. Touya peered into Jin's eyes and saw tender warmth. Though he was used to putting on a cold mask, he hoped Jin was seeing the same warmth in his eyes.

Chuu laughed gruffly and grinned.

"You two are a-right set," Chuu said, pointing his fork at them. "Hope I find me a sheila as peachy as the pair a' you."

"You will, Chuu," Touya said as Jin moved to stand behind him and hugged his arms around his waist.

Jin amused himself by rocking the ice master from side to side in a gentle swaying dance. "Like talkin' ta a wall, all blank face. Clicked me heels an' soared 'round an' 'round after I first got ya ta talk."

Touya blinked and peered up confused at Jin. "Uh, Jin, just…I am not certain I follow…"

"How ya were when we first met, it is," Jin said in a voice that made it clear he thought it was obvious as to what he was talking about. "Cold wasn't just yer power, it was how ya lived. No speakin', no smilin', always ta yerself. Not like ya are now at all. If I wasn't all determined to get ya happy an' stuck wit ya, never would have opened up, ya wouldn't have."

Jin met Chuu's eyes and grinned. "Out there, there's a lassie fer yeh, Chuu. Stick with her when ya find her in case she's shy."

Touya softly laughed. "I was not shy."

"No, but it was a long, long time befer you an' I were like we are now. Might as well a' been shy, ya were."

Touya closed his eyes and got comfy against Jin's chest. "Those days are long since behind us."

"Aye, they are," the wind master agreed and kissed the top of Touya's head.

In a rumble of footsteps and grumbling, the rest of Touya and Jin's houseguests plodded out of bed and made their way down the stairs.

"Wow. Is it breakfast already?" Rinku asked.

"Why does the house smell like pancakes?" Suzuki said and then yawned loudly.

"It's three in the morning. Who's making pancakes this early? Some of us have to have our beauty sleep, y'know." Apparently Shishiwakamaru was not in Demon World as Touya had been told. For some reason, he had found a desire to visit the human world, something the young swordsman had not shown particular interest in doing before.

"Gotta be Chuu," Rinku said as he poked his head into the open kitchen doorway. " …Yep. Told'ya."

As the rest of their friends entered their kitchen eagerly or blearily and it became known that Jin, not Chuu, was making moonlight cakes, congratulations and thanks for not blowing up the house were in order, along with plenty of praise and manly shoulder shakes from Chuu on his student's success.

The once quiet kitchen roared with chatter and laughter, especially as their conversation focused on Shishiwakamaru's presence in the house and the beautiful young swordsman's poorly tied kimono revealed a few interesting marks on his neck.

"I _was_ in Demon World," Shishiwakamaru hastily explained, "until this arrogant, prideful, foolish demon—"

"Don't forget _magnificent_ and _gorgeous_," Suzuki chimed in.

Shishiwakamaru shot him a swift sharp glare. "—challenged me to a fight. Though he was hardy an equal match—"

"Hardly?" Suzuki put on a dramatic show of being insulted. "From what I remember, you and this fabulous specimen of demon were on level with one another, that you could face off readily and for hours."

"I felled him with my cursed blade!" Shishiwakamaru's face flushed red.

"Well, maybe he was tried of doing all the stabbing let you stab him for once. You're welcome to do that more often if you wish so," Suzuki said, quite amused and smiling, as he pretended to give a once-over of his perfect nails and intentionally ignored Shishwakamaru's visibly burning anger. "And cursed? A little harsh on yourself. Sure it takes a little while to stir to life but when it does, the Banshee does shriek."

Shishiwakamaru's glares promised he would kill Suzuki if he said another word. "These marks…" he spoke his words tightly, "…are bite wounds. And if I wasn't dying from its venom and knew _any other_ healers, I would not have came to the human world for help."

"That's a neat story," Chuu said and then pointed at his bites. "'Cept those ugly bludgers are hickeys, mate."

"No, no, Chuu, they're bites," Suzuki said as he grinned and put his arm around Shishiwakamaru's shoulders. "The demon that attacked him makes marks that look just like hickeys. Isn't that right, _darling_?"

As Shishiwakamaru vehemently denied he and Suzuki were together as Suzuki pretended to be hurt and repeatedly made comments implying they were a couple and Chuu and Rinku laughed at their over-the-top reactions to one another, Touya noticed Jin was gone and slipped out the kitchen to look for him while the others were occupied.

Touya found Jin in the hall, staring at the wooden floor in disappointment. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Don't get me wrong…" Jin said. "Friends now an' far us six are, but this not how things were meant ta go. You an' me, that's what I planned."

"I know but things changed. And we will not always have this many visitors. Best to enjoy them while we can," Touya said as he wrapped his arms around Jin and pressed himself against his body. "It was sweet of you, though, and it was great while it lasted. Thank you."

"Make it up ta yah, I will."

"You do not need to," Touya said. "If anything, it is probably my turn to treat you."

Due to their height differences, Touya rose onto the tips of his toes and Jin leaned down to bring their lips into another kiss.

A noise from the kitchen reminded Touya that their house was not empty.

"You know, moonlight cakes are not suited for lovers. They are something more for six good friends."

"I'd say yer right, Toy," Jin said as his kisses moved along Touya's jaw.

"Well, it is our home and we should enforce order," Touya said as Jin licked his neck, "…but we can always make them clean up in the morning."

"Fine with me, love." Jin grinned as he tossed and caught a small bottle of blueberry syrup in one hand. "But you should know my favorite treat is you an' blueberry syrup."

It wasn't exactly how Touya expect to treat Jin—he was actually thinking of a more romantic gesture than a sexual favor—but if this was what Jin wanted, he supposed he could go along with it and save the romantic gesture for another day. Besides it wasn't as if their lovemaking was devoid of romance or feelings in the first place.

"Just one rule," Touya said as he headed toward their bedroom, "be careful about letting it run."

"Oh, no worries about that, Toy," Jin said, grinning in tow. "Not gonna waste a drop, I am. Promise that, I do."


End file.
